The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant botanically known as Echinacea x hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Balsomanita’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Elburn, Ill. during August 2013. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Echinacea cultivars with a single inflorescence form having imbricate ray florets and a well-branched, compact growth habit.
The new Echinacea cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Echinacea x hybrida breeding selection coded E97A-1-1A-9-10, not patented, characterized by its single-type, dark red-purple colored ray florets, dark green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, semi-upright growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Echinacea x hybrida breeding selection coded E100-2-2-10, not patented, characterized by its single-type, medium yellow-colored ray florets, medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, semi-upright growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during July 2014 in a controlled environment in Elburn, Ill.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by in vitro shoot propagation since July 2014 in West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.